twenty-something

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"Who is the love of Crash's life?" Jen asked.

We sat there, three college sophomores -- Jen, Katie, and I -- huddled around a Ouji board in Redstone Hall, the school's oldest -- and creepiest -- dormitory. It was November, two weeks after Halloween, in the midst of that dead season of transition between Fall and Winter.

"Oh no," I said. "Don't bring me into this. I don't want to know the future of my love life." I was half-lying. I really did want to find out if this cheap Milton-Bradley-manufactured Oracle could tell me anything interesting, but regardless of its reputation as a tool of the devil, I was skeptical of it's mystical, other-worldly powers. Since we bought it at Wal-Mart, I didn't expect much.

Jen shushed me and proceeded. "Who is the love of Crash's life?" she repeated. "Has he already met him?"

YES
"Have they already been together?"

NO
My heart started beating faster and I got goosebumps. I wasn't particularly impressed with our ghostly friend's answers thus far, but I was freaked out that they were supposedly about me. I was fine when we were communing with the dead about Jen's future with her boyfriend or the well-being of Katie's sick friend.

But when it came to talking about me, it was weird. The feeling I got wasn't a bad one, just eerie. For the first time all night, it did feel like there was someone or something besides us in the room. My eyes got large as I stared at the board, waiting for the girls to uncover more about my life and love.

"Who is Crash going to marry?" Jen asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, now we're getting into 8th grade territory." Suddenly that otherworldly feeling was gone, replaced by cheesiness. "This is starting to get—"

This time both Jen and Katie shushed me. Their seriousness quickly shut me up.

The pointer did not move. Jen rephrased the question.

"Who is Crash's soul mate?"

We stared at the board, waiting. The pointer started to vibrate and then moved. It circled the board and then stopped dead on a letter.

Jen read aloud:

B
I groaned, knowing what it was about to tell me.

The pointer began to circle again and then stopped.

Katie read:

T
"Oh my God!" Jen exclaimed. "BT! That's Bob Thomas! I knew it!" This was the redheaded out fratboy who all my friends thought I needed to date. I liked him fine, but that was it. Now they were restoring to pseudo-supernatural means to bring us together.

"Is that it? Is it Bob?" Katie asked the board.

Something seemed to change in the room, but I was the only one that felt it. The otherworldly feeling from before had returned, ten fold.

The pointer circled, and circled. It stopped.

This time, I read:

NO
"No? That can't be right! You and Bill have to –"

The pointer began to move again.

NO
It was still on the move. It stopped on a letter.

J
And again.

K
It moved back to its resting place.

"JK?" one of the girls asked.

"Just Kidding," I said, recognizing the shorthand. Not only did this ghost have a cruel sense of humor, it was hip to the latest lingo. "JK means Just Kidding."

The pointer moved.

NO
"No?" I asked.

Again, it spelt out:

J K
"Ok... JK, not just kidding."

YES
"Initials?" I asked.

YES
"JK... JK... I don't know anybody with those initials."

The girls looked at me strangely. I figure I looked like a man possessed.

"I've met this person?"

YES
"Do I know him?"

NOT YET
"When?"

SOON